Searching for Occupational Therapy Schools near Pittsburg, KS? Let us help you find the best OTA school for you!

As youbegin your search for Occupational therapy Assistant schools in Pittsburg, KS, you shouldsoondiscover that there has never been a better time for you topursue a career as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statisticspredicts jobs in this particularindustry to grow by 43% over the ten year period 2010-2020, this is over 12,000 new Occupational Therapy Assistant jobs! The even better news is that the medianOccupational Therapy Assistant salaryis greater than $53,000 annuallymaking itamong the best paying medicaloccupations that does not require a Bachelor’s Degree.

Occupational Therapy Schools in Pittsburg, KS

The initial steptowards a career as an OTA is finding the rightOccupational Therapy Training Program. There are at the momentnearlytwo hundred accredited occupational therapy schools in the US and Puerto Rico and almost all of the schools accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) offer Occupational Therapist Assistant degrees and Master’s Degrees, with many also offering Doctoral degrees. Before youdive in andchoose a school, make sure that youanalyze all of your optionsto makesureyou choose an Occupational Therapy school that suits all your requirements.

Details YouShould ConsiderWhen Deciding On an Occupational Therapy School

Accreditation

Accreditation by the ACOTE is essential because you can beassuredthat you willbe taught the full variety oftechniquesnecessary to bea qualified OTA.

Curriculum

Occupational Therapy Assistants work with patients on a wide variety ofailments and disorders so it isimportant that your schooling is very diverseand not too dedicated toone particulararea of specialization.

Clinical Training

Another importantfeatureyou should consider is the clinical teaching experience. This is yourhands-on training, itis whereyou are going to interact with actual patients and put your knowledge to use. Some schools designatesignificantly more time on your actual laboratoryexperience in comparison withothers. In instances where your school is not spendinglarge amounts of time with clinical instructing, make sure that youask why.

Class Size

Something else to consider is the class size. The size of your classwill vary greatly from college to college. Make sure you find out the class sizes at all of schools you are considering. Bear in mind, the smaller the classes , the more one-on-one instructionyou will get with yourprofessors.

Online Classes

Taking Occupational Therapy Classes Online may not work for every student. Nevertheless, for some people online training can easea few of the burdens of being a full time student. Jobs and familytend to bedriven aside while students continue their schooling and online classes can offera little flexibility to a busy schedule.

Graduation Rate

The finaldetailthat you shouldhave a look atbefore selecting an Occupational Therapy School is the rate of the training programsyou are evaluating. Make sure you find out how many traineesgraduate from the program, what their comments were, and exactly how many of them have gone tocareers as OTA’s.

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Programs:

Northcentral University was founded in 1996 to provide working professionals around the world with unprecedented access to richly engaging, professionally relevant, and academically-rigorous education from a U.S. university.

As a regionally accredited, private, online and graduate-focused university, NCU offers doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business, technology management, education, and psychology, as well as doctoral and master’s degrees in marriage and family therapy.

Programs:

Health Psychology - PhD of Psychology

Health Psychology - MA in Psychology

Master of Science in Health Psychology

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What to Expect in OTA School

In most cases the course work is roughly24 months, with the first year being predominantlyclassroomteaching and with the second year spent working on hands on instruction in a hospital or private carepractice. Some of the course work a student will be required to take involves pediatrics, gerontology, healthcarejargon, and physical rehabilitation. All States that require licensure only call fora two year degree. A Bachelor’s Degree isnecessaryif you intend on becoming a full Occupational Therapist, but the truth is you will find that almost all Occupational Therapist started their careers as Assistants and earned their Bachelor’s Degrees some time later.

Licensing Information

Following graduation, those wanting toget started on their careers need to become licensed as an OTA. Each State has its own policies and regulationswhich are governed by an occupational therapy board, with many being private while others are run by the State exclusively. In Kansas, licensing is administrated by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts. Althoughevery State is unique, there are a number of requirements that happen to be common among most of them and include the following.

An individualtrying to get an occupational therapy assistant licensemust be a U.S. citizen, needs to have a social security number and needs to have taken and completedappropriate college course work and also taken and passed the NBCOT exam.

Each State requires a federal background check , however convictions are not alwaysautomatic grounds for dismissal. A handful of States may consider approving an occupational therapy license as long as a written affidavit is filed to clarify the circumstances of the conviction. Additional circumstances including time period and nature of the criminal offense may be examined and be considered to grant licensure .

Every State will have an Occupational Therapy Assistant licensure packagewhich willinclude many forms to fill out. Neverpurchase these forms from a third party since they can be accessed online from many trustworthyweb sites. It is advised to take a very comprehensive look through the paper work before attempting to complete them. It will have official transcripts required; notarized signatures and many States will require you to turn in a fingerprint card that can be completed at a local police station.

Job Environment for Occupational Therapy Assistants

An OTA works with many different patients who may have needs that could becompletely different the previous patient. You might beworking in an outpatient facility with young childrenwho have food or texture aversions or a hospital rehab center working with a middle age woman with emotional struggles . Though an occupational therapy assistant possessesa large number of job skills, a couple of the basics such as following direction, keeping up to date with the most recent techniques and learning and applying the available technologiesare the most important. Finally, a COTA also needs to be somewhat physically fit, sinceyou will have several instances of shifting patients around, for example from a bed to a wheel chair.

If this looks like the career for you, then take a few minutes and visit the search form at the top of this page. You will be shown a list of training programs near Pittsburg, KS that offer Occupational Therapy Assistant training. Request information from as many schools as you’d like, and good luck in your future career!

Occupational Therapy Schools in Pittsburg, KS reviewed by Jose WATSON on June 7.

Terrific Source of Info

Thank You for creating such an informative website. I was able to find great info about the OTA schools in my area and found one that worked for me. I’m now ready to start my training and can’t wait to work as an Occupational Therapy Assistant.